Photo of The Month – Jan 2005

Rough Winter

Picture contributor: Hazel Haynes Bridges

Each succeeding generation was told how much harsher the winters were “way back yonder.” We heard how much deeper and more frequent the snows were, and how the pond would freeze over so that people could actually walk across. Harsher or not, this scene in the mid 1920s attests to how hard life was for most of the workers. Very few people had autos. Imagine having to walk to work through this weather from one of those houses way up River Street all the way round to the mill gate. As you look beyond the mill to those flimsy ill-heated houses perched on that frigid hillside, it makes you wonder how hungry, cold or sick the occupants might have been.